Squirrel Hill is a very large residential neighborhood in the east end of
PittsburghPittsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is...
,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
,
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods,
Squirrel Hill North and
Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood. As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 24,915 people, 10,499 households, and 5,198 families residing there.
Squirrel Hill has
zip codeThe ZIP code is the system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service . The letters ZIP, a backronym for Zone Improvement Plan, are properly written in capital letters and were chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
15217, and is bordered on the west by
OaklandOakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and
Schenley ParkSchenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also a National Historic District ....
, on the north by
ShadysideShadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
and Point Breeze, on the east by
Frick ParkFrick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, covering .The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayton, his Point Breeze mansion. He also arranged for a $2 million trust fund for long-term maintenance for the park, which opened in...
, and on the south by
Greenfield----Greenfield is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is represented on by Doug Shields.Greenfield is a member of Pittsburgh's 15th Ward, which includes the neighborhoods of Greenfield and Four Mile Run. Greenfield is adjacent to the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Hazelwood...
and the
Monongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in North-Central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. Most of Squirrel Hill lies in Pittsburgh's 14th Ward. The
Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition is dedicated to preserving and improving the quality of life in the neighborhood.
History
The growth and development of Squirrel Hill was initially focused on the riverfront along the
Monongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in North-Central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. The first recorded house was built by a soldier at nearby
Fort PittFort Pitt may refer to:*Fort Pitt , on the site of present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States*Fort Pitt, Kent, in the United Kingdom*Fort Pitt, Saskatchewan, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada...
, Colonel James Burd, at a place called Summerset on the Monongahela River in 1760. Its first "business district" was the intersection of Brown's Hill Road and Beechwood Boulevard. In 1778, John Turner built his estate of Federal Hill nearby (along what is now Beechwood Boulevard). Squirrel Hill's next house was built by Ambrose Newton in the 1760s. This house is still standing and is located in
Schenley ParkSchenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also a National Historic District ....
along Overlook Drive (near the ice skating rink).
The third house was built by Robert Neill around 1787 in what is now Schenley Park. This house still exists and is occasionally open to the public. The Neills owned of land in the northern section of Schenley Park. In 1795, the Neills moved from this house to a location in what is now Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh, before they died. After they died, the house was handed down to two different people before it was sold to General
James O'HaraJames O'Hara is the name of:* James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley , British Army officer* James E. O'Hara , U.S. Representative from North Carolina* James G. O'Hara , U.S. Representative from Michigan...
. O'Hara's granddaughter, Mary Schenley, gave the property to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889. For a time, in the house was rented out by the city to vacationers. However, by 1969, the house was in such poor condition that it was dismantled and rebuilt by the
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks FoundationThe Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
. It still exists and is only open for tours during the Vintage Grand Prix in July.
Around 1820, William "Killymoon" Steward built one of the first
tavernA tavern or pot-house is, loosely, a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and, more than likely, also be served food, though not licensed to put up guests. The word derives from the Latin taberna and the Greek ταβέρνα/taverna, whose original meaning was a shed or...
/inns in the area. His tavern, located near the intersection of Beechwood and Brown's Hill Road, survived for over 100 years. Slowly, Squirrel Hill became a prosperous and affluent suburb. By the 1860s, the area along Fifth Avenue near Woodland Road had several mansions, including Willow Cottage. The cottage was built by the industrialist and civic leader Thomas M. Howe, a bank president and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855. Though neglected for many years and almost torn down, Willow Cottage has recently undergone a $2.2 million restoration and renovation into a Chatham University gatehouse and guesthouse.
Following the
Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
several of Pittsburgh's richest families built multiple houses in the Woodland Road area between Fifth and Wilkins Avenues. Prior to 1868, the Squirrel Hill area was a part of Peebles Township. This changed in 1868 when the city of
PittsburghPittsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is...
annexed the land. In 1869, a woman's college, the predecessor to Chatham University, was established nearby. Today, Chatham University owns several of these large houses. In 1869, the clubhouse of the Pittsburgh Golf Club was built at the new
Schenley Park Golf CourseSchenley Park Golf Course, renamed Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park in 2007, is located in the rolling hills of Schenley Park between Oakland and Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is the only golf course within the city limits....
.
Over the course of the 19th century, the focus of Squirrel Hill shifted from its riverfront at the
Monongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in North-Central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
to the area closest to
OaklandOakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and
ShadysideShadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
. Former farm land such as the area known as the Murdoch Farms slowly developed as new development appeared in the area.
The growth of Squirrel Hill accelerated when an electric
trolleyA tram, tramcar, trolley, trolleycar, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a conventional train, designed for the transport of passengers within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities, on tracks running primarily on streets...
was installed in 1893. The trolley line ran via Forbes Avenue and Murray Avenue to its final destination in
HomesteadHomestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," seven miles southeast of downtown Pittsburgh but directly across the river from the city limit line.- History :...
. The trolley line facilitated the building of hundreds of houses for the middle management of local factories, especially on Shady and Denniston Avenues near Aylesboro. Despite its trolley line, Murray Avenue remained a dirt road until 1920.
Squirrel Hill grew even more with the opening of the
Boulevard of the AlliesThe Boulevard of the Allies is a mostly four-lane road in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, connecting Downtown Pittsburgh with the Oakland neighborhood of the city. Because of its lengthy name, locals often refer to it as simply "The Boulevard"....
in 1927, providing a direct link to downtown Pittsburgh.
Author
Willa CatherWilla Siebert Cather was an American author who grew up in Nebraska. She is best known for her depictions of frontier life on the Great Plains in novels such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark.- Early life :Born Wilella Siebert Cather in 1873 on a small farm in the Back Creek...
briefly made Squirrel Hill her home from 1901 to 1906. Residing on Murray Hill Avenue, Cather was the telegraph (wire desk) editor and drama critic for the newspaper,
Pittsburgh Leader. She taught at Central High School in nearby
UptownThe Bluff or Uptown is a neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the southeast of the city's Central Business District. It is bordered in the north by the Hill District and just a short trip across the Monongahela River is the city's Southside, which is home to a flourishing...
and later became the head of the English Department at Allegheny High School. Cather used Pittsburgh as the setting for several short stories that she wrote during her time here.
When
Henry Clay FrickHenry Clay Frick was an American industrialist and art patron, once known as "America's most hated man"...
died in 1919, he bequethed of undeveloped land to the City of Pittsburgh for use as a public park. He provided a $2 million trust fund to assist with the maintenance of the park.
Frick ParkFrick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, covering .The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayton, his Point Breeze mansion. He also arranged for a $2 million trust fund for long-term maintenance for the park, which opened in...
on the eastern border of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood opened in 1927. Between 1919 and 1942, money from the trust fund was used to enlarge the park, increasing its size to almost .
In February 2004, Frick Park grew with the addition of the
Nine Mile Run stream restoration area which flows to the
Monongahela RiverThe Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in North-Central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. The
United States Army Corps of EngineersThe United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
is managing the restoration funded with $5 million in federal money and $2.7 million raised by the city.
Many of the new residents were Eastern European
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s from
OaklandOakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and the Hill District. Not as wealthy as their predecessors, they moved into rows of brick houses on the cross streets of Murray Avenue south of Forbes, such as Darlington Road, Bartlett Street, and Beacon Street. Squirrel Hill became the center of Jewish culture in the city, with kosher butcher shops, delicatessens, Jewish restaurants, bookstores, and designer boutiques.
By the 1930s, most of the available land in Squirrel Hill had been filled.
Squirrel Hill business area is also known as "upstreet" to many many generations of young kids growing up in the area over the past 40 years.
Squirrel Hill was also the home of Fred Rogers.
The neighborhood is also home to the Church of the Redeemer, an inclusive and progressive Episcopal church.
Jewish community
Squirrel Hill has had a large Jewish population since the 1920s, when
Jewish people began to move to the neighborhoodJewish history of Pittsburgh, the second largest city in the state of Pennsylvania, USA and the chief city of Western Pennsylvania. According to the 2002 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, "Jewish households represent 3.8% of the total number of households living in Allegheny...
in large numbers from
OaklandOakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and the
Hill DistrictThe Hill District is a collection of neighborhoods that is considered by many to be the cultural center of African-American life in in the United States. Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay once called the district "the crossroads of the world," referring to the neighborhood's heyday in the...
. According to a 2002 study by the United Jewish Federation, 33% of the Jewish population of greater Pittsburgh lives in Squirrel Hill and another 14% lives in the surrounding neighborhoods. The report states that "The stability of Squirrel Hill, a geographic hub of the Jewish community located within the city limits, is unique in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
."
Squirrel Hill contains three Jewish day schools, affiliated with the
ChabadChabad is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at, the three levels of Sefirot related to cognition according to the Kabbalah....
,
Modern OrthodoxModern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize traditional observance and values with the secular, modern world....
and
ConservativeConservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.The principles of Conservative Judaism include:* A deliberately non-fundamentalist teaching of Jewish...
movements respectively. There are over twenty
synagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer....
s.
The community also boasts the Kollel Jewish Learning Center, a center of advanced Talmudic studies ("learning") and Jewish outreach, with a staff of full-time Community Scholars. It is one of the first "Lakewood Kollels" in the nation, founded in 1977.
The Jewish community also offers three
kosher restaurantA kosher restaurant is an establishment that serves food that complies with Jewish dietary laws. These businesses, which also include diners, cafes, pizzarias, fast food, and cafeterias, and are frequently in listings together with kosher bakeries, butchers, caterers, and other similar places,...
s (Milky Way, Aaron & Ari's Grill, and Dunkin Donuts at the corner of Forbes and Shady), a
Jewish Community CenterA Jewish Community Center or Jewish Community Centre is a general recreational, social and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations, Israel-related programming, and Jewish education, however...
, a kosher bakery,
Sweet Tammy's, and an annual festival.
Education
Squirrel Hill is located in the
Pittsburgh School DistrictPittsburgh Public Schools is the public school district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and adjacent Mount Oliver.The combined land area of these municipalities is with a population of 342,503 according to the 2000 census. As of August 2005, the superintendent is Mark Roosevelt and on December...
. The
publicPublic education is schooling mandated for or offered to all children by the government, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by taxes. The term is generally applied to basic education, including kindergarten to...
grade school for the neighborhood is
Colfax-Historical events:*Colfax massacre, an 1873 incident in Colfax, Louisiana*Colfax County War in New Mexico in 1876 between settlers and the Santa Fe Ring-People with the surname Colfax:...
. The
publicPublic education is schooling mandated for or offered to all children by the government, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by taxes. The term is generally applied to basic education, including kindergarten to...
high school for the neighborhood is
Taylor Allderdice High SchoolReferred to by the Pittsburgh Public Schools as “Pittsburgh Allderdice” ,Taylor Allderdice High School is a public high school located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh’s East End. As the "largest of the Pittsburgh Public Schools' ten urban high schools" , Allderdice has the most...
. Squirrel Hill is also home to St. Edmund's Academy, a private Episcopalian elementary school, Chatham University (bordering
ShadysideShadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
), and parts of
Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Since its inception, Carnegie Mellon has grown into a world-renowned institution, with numerous programs that are frequently ranked among the best in the world...
. H.B. Davis Elementary School closed in 1980.
Points of interest
- Chatham University Arboretum
Chatham University Arboretum is an arboretum located on the campus of Chatham University at Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,United States. It is open to the public daily without charge....
- Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also a National Historic District ....
- Frick Park
Frick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, covering .The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayton, his Point Breeze mansion. He also arranged for a $2 million trust fund for long-term maintenance for the park, which opened in...
- Vintage Grand Prix
Local Government
Squirrel Hill North is represented on
Pittsburgh City Council by
Bill PedutoWilliam Peduto, Democrat, was elected to Pittsburgh City Council, District 8, in November, 2001, and to a second four-year term in 2005.In the spring primary of 2005, Peduto ran for two positions. Besides running for re-election for his council seat, Peduto was a candidate for mayor...
(City Council District 8).
Squirrel Hill South is represented on City Council by
Douglas ShieldsDouglas A. Shields is the City Council President of Pittsburgh. He represents the 5th Council District of the city. Included in the 5th District are the neighborhoods of Glenn Hazel, Greenfield, Hays, New Homestead, Hazelwood, Lincoln Place, Point Breeze, Swisshelm Park, the southern half of...
(City Council District 5).
See also
- List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
- History of Pittsburgh
The history of Pittsburgh began with more than 10,000 years of Native American civilization in the modern Pittsburgh region. Eventually French and British explorers encountered the strategic juncture where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio...
- Jewish history in Pittsburgh
Jewish history of Pittsburgh, the second largest city in the state of Pennsylvania, USA and the chief city of Western Pennsylvania. According to the 2002 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, "Jewish households represent 3.8% of the total number of households living in Allegheny...
- Squirrel Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Squirrel Hill is a neighborhood in West Philadelphia, south of Baltimore Ave and west of Clark Park. It shares a border with the Spruce Hill and Cedar Park neighborhoods. By some accounts, this neighborhood is within the boundaries of the University City district. Squirrel Hill has the distinction...
- A smaller neighborhood with the same name in Philadelphia.
External links